


Come to Bed

by hmweasley



Category: The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Clave Politics (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Domestic Fluff, F/M, Married Couple, Overworking, Post-Book 3: Clockwork Princess, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: When Henry finds Charlotte still up and working, he does what he can to get her to bed.
Relationships: Charlotte Branwell/Henry Branwell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	Come to Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Amber.
> 
> Prompts:  
> Charlotte/Henry  
> ink  
> "It's nearly midnight"
> 
> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](http://madetofly.tumblr.com) if you'd like.

The glow of the fire warmed the office. Henry shivered as he wheeled his chair through the door and paused to shut it behind him, keeping out the chill from the dark hallway outside.

Charlotte didn’t look up from where she was flipping through some papers at her desk. Henry frowned as he approached. It wasn’t the first time he’d found her hard at work at such a late hour, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last, but that didn’t stop him from worrying over her.

When the kids were younger, it had been easier to get her to bed. She’d agreed readily whenever Henry asserted that they needed to sleep whenever the children would let them sleep. They’d both been too exhausted to even dream of disagreeing.

With the kids a bit older and sleeping through the night, Charlotte was putting in longer hours than any Consul before her, and there was seemingly nothing Henry could do to get her to bed at a reasonable hour.

“It’s nearly midnight,” he said when he came to a stop beside her desk.

Charlotte sighed and rubbed at her eyes before she gave him a tired smile. The dark circles under her eyes were stark, even in the dim firelight. She reached for his hand, and Henry intertwined their fingers, thankful that she’d at least put her pen down.

She stretched, leaning back in her chair as she did so, and Henry took the opportunity to look at her hand. Ink stained her fingers after a full day of writing out letters and signing off on documents. Henry swiped his fingers over the stains, but of course, that wasn’t enough to remove the marks. Only a good scrub had any chance of that.

Charlotte sighed at his small touches and gave his fingers a squeeze.

“You know I have to do a good job,” she said, tilting her head back to rest against the back of her chair. It couldn’t have been anywhere near as comfortable as the pillows on their bed would be. “The second I make a mistake, there will be another uproar about what a mistake they made choosing a woman as Consul. As soon as that happens, I’m done for.”

Henry hummed, neither confirming nor denying her worries. They both knew that a particularly vocal faction of the Clave would do just that, but Henry was also sure that Charlotte had more than proven her worth over the years she’d been Consul. No one would dare remove her. Instead, they would continue to grumble about her supposed inadequacies while she kept doing her job more competently than any of them could have managed.

“You know,” he mused, running his thumb over her knuckles, “the kids were asking for a puppy earlier.”

Charlotte laughed, raising a hand over her mouth to keep the sound from carrying to the children’s bedrooms, and rolled her eyes at Henry.

“Don’t tell me you’re taking their side in the matter?” she said.

She let her head fall to his shoulder, and Henry raised his hand that wasn’t holding hers to play with the strands of hair that had come free from her updo since that morning when he’d watched her carefully fix it into place.

“Who would take care of it?” she questioned. “I’m busy with the Clave, and you’re always distracted by your experiments. Neither of us has the time for a dog.”

Henry hummed in agreement.

“The kids promised to—”

Charlotte interrupted him with a laugh, jostling Henry as her body shook with it. His hand in her hair paused, waiting for her to grow still before he began to play with it again.

“The kids will lose interest in a few months at most,” she mused. “We can hardly get them to brush their teeth in the morning unless we stand over them. Do you really expect them to bathe a dog?”

“No,” Henry said, dropping a quick kiss to the top of her head. “I do believe you’re correct. One can’t expect children to take on all the responsibility for a pet, but they could do at least some of the work. And… Well, I think we could both do with a bit of a distraction now and then. I’ve heard dogs are useful for relaxation and brightening one’s mood.”

Charlotte stiffened as she realized her husband might have had an ulterior motive in bringing up the children’s desire for a dog.

“I’m not sure—”

“We can think about it,” Henry said into her hair. “There’s no reason we must make a decision about the matter tonight.”

Charlotte sighed but didn’t argue. Despite not being able to see her face, he knew her eyes had fluttered closed. If he let her continue resting against his shoulder, she was sure to fall asleep there, a position they would both regret come morning. He couldn’t carry her to their room.

“I believe it’s time for bed,” he whispered.

Charlotte huffed and turned her head to look at her desk. The papers she’d been going through when he entered were still scattered across it haphazardly. Henry couldn’t discern any sense of order by looking at them. The mere sight of the mess made his tired mind go blank.

“They’ll be there in the morning,” he said, his hand falling from Charlotte’s hair to rub her back.

She sat up and gave him a smile.

“You’re right,” she said.

He smiled back. Even with the dark circles under her eyes from many nights of little sleep, she was as beautiful as she’d always been. He couldn’t resist leaning forward to kiss her. She returned the kiss briefly before pulling away, her shoulders drooping from exhaustion. With one last look at her desk, she sighed but gave a decisive nod.

“Bed,” she confirmed.

Henry smiled as she stood and led the way out of the office.


End file.
